White House officials: Mexico drug violence is not a federal “emergency”

While drug violence continues to spread in Mexico, White House officials have decided the situation doesn’t rank as an “emergency” under federal rules. MSNBC>>>

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., is speaking “more and more” in response to rigorous speech therapy carried out during her rehabilitation at Houston’s TIRR Memorial Hermann. The Houston Chronicle>>>

Congressional Republicans opened a formal assault on Wednesday on the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases, raising doubts about the legal, scientific and economic basis of rules proposed by the agency. The New York Times>>>

House Republicans endured another embarrassing floor loss Wednesday, one day after a vote on the Patriot Act failed on their watch. A bill that would retrieve money already paid to the United Nations failed Wednesday afternoon 259-169. Politico>>>

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in testimony Wednesday on Capitol Hill that it “will be several years” before the job-rate is back to normal, despite some positive signs that cropped up in January. Politico>>>